Han Hoth is somewhat disappointing to me due to being "almost, but not quite". If this is what the vintage-style line has to offer, it's time to call it a day because this could have easily been a basic figure, there's nothing special about it beyond the packaging - and even that's ruined by the heat-sealed collector case. Almost everything on this set is slightly off, which is a bummer.

Han's outfit sculpt is very nice, they put a lot of intricate texture into here and used all the details too. The sculpt integrates only ok with the articulation, the knees (when they're bent) and elbows are too obvious a break, and the shoulders don't really carry the outfit's shoulders because they have to be rounded. The outfit sports a removable piece at the top to simulate the hood-down look, it's just on there loose though with only the head keeping it on, sadly LFL killed the hood-up version Hasbro had intended to include. The pose is neutral save for the pointing right hand.

The headsculpt is alright, it's a new design that's not a ball-jointed head so you get a complete look, the features are pretty solid from any above angle, though straight on something about the lower face seems a tiny bit off to me. One thing that always bothers me on the vintage-style Han figures is the feathered hair with a wing on each side, and this is no different. The head is removable, connected to the body via a ball-joint into the base of the neck, by doing this you can remove the hood-down piece but the head seems a bit small on the body after this.

Paint is decent, there's a lot more than you'd think on a fig like this, and they put more work into the hair than expected so he has light brown highlights (at first I thought the front of the hair was sloppily unpainted, but it makes sense when you study it). Something about the eyes seems effeminate, perhaps the top-lid painted black like eyeliner.

Articulation is low-standard for Super-Articulated figures: swivel neck, universal-jointed shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles, swivel gauntlets, standard waist and hips. The standard head articulation is particularly lame for a vintage-style figure. The elbows are cupped in by the upper arm slightly, so he can raise his forearm 90 degrees up but rotating it inward has to lower that to 70 degrees or so. The hips are limited to maybe 20 degrees forward due to the plastic "skirt".

Han's accessories are a removable hat, his pistol, and electrobinoculars. First off, the pistol is the ANH version from the Han VOTC, so it's got the wrong scope and is lacking detailing, though they did paint the barrel silver and the handle brown, and it fits in the holster molded into the "skirt" well.

Then there's the binocs with permanent over-the-shoulder strap which gets in the way of the figure using them as anything other than a man-purse. The binocs have a decent sculpt and paint weathering, but the main white is gloppy and sloppy. My biggest problem with the binocs is they're huge, nearly double the size they should be.

Finally, the hat, I hate this thing. It's a little too large, and with the goggles sculpted down, it just looks ridiculous on his head. The bottom halves being flared out makes it look even worse, when was Han wearing it like this? Finally, the stupid hat doesn't fit when the figure is wearing the hood-down piece even though that's integral to the jacket's look.

What really annoys me is that this is Han Hoth as we know him for no more than a few moments, Han just back from patrol and then arguing with 3PO basically, that's all you can do with this. The hat is awful, serving no purpose here except to remind us how cool this figure would have been with the separate hood-up piece instead -- and we already had the loose hood-down piece to do that job. The accessories are bothersome since they're close but no cigar, the figure looks good but is lacking in some areas. If this were a basic figure, I'd probably say it's decent, but as a vintage-style it's hurt as much by what it isn't as what it is.

Devo

05-18-2007, 05:21 PM

Hmm. Not fond of the Vintage Han head sculpts myself, they're out of scale with the heads of other figures and IMO the hairstyle as is sculpted on these figures doesn't suit All of the films like Hasbro seems to think.

Although I disagree about 2 parts of your review. No ball-joint head is a good thing as far as I'm concerned, it being vintage I expected it to have one of those jaw-ruining abominations and this doesn't. Yay. Secondly the absence of anything on his head, be it cap or hood or both, is acceptable to me since this is the version of Hoth Han we've never had before in any form. Previous versions have each had his head concealed. When I think of Han in Hoth gear I always think of him without the hood when he's being given out to by Chewie. Remember most of the Hoth figures we'll ever get are echo base figures, from interior scenes - yet only now in 2007 do we get the Hoth Han appropriate for that.

JediTricks

05-18-2007, 05:25 PM

By request, the grading system breakdown:

Packaging: 3/5
Odd to see the same Vintage TSC packaging, only this year's mail-in stuff is gold instead of silver (and the tabs are generic). The heat-sealed collector case really bothers me though, takes this down a LOT.

Sculpt-Design: 4.25/5

Articulation: 3.5/5
If this were a basic, that'd be higher, but he's a little low for a vintage-style.

Paint-Deco: 4.25/5
The outfit is brown, which I think is correct, but there's a slight blue-gray wash to it to tease you guys. Besides the eyes not being all they could be, the legs could be a little weathered.

Accessories: 2.5/5

Overall: C

bigbarada

05-22-2007, 08:46 PM

Everytime I see this figure with the hat on, it always seems to be hovering about two inches above his head. Does it actually fit properly at all?

And how bad must that hood-up accesory have been if THIS is the piece that they went with?

AmanaMatt

05-23-2007, 01:16 AM

Everytime I see this figure with the hat on, it always seems to be hovering about two inches above his head. Does it actually fit properly at all?

And how bad must that hood-up accesory have been if THIS is the piece that they went with?

I will be asking Hasbro this very question Thur....I hope the reps know what the are talking about at CIV

JediTricks

05-24-2007, 02:43 AM

Everytime I see this figure with the hat on, it always seems to be hovering about two inches above his head. Does it actually fit properly at all?It fits over his head ONLY when the hood-down piece is removed, but that looks awful IMO since the outfit is no longer accurate and it stands out like a sore thumb. Plus, the whole hat-w/open-flaps-&-goggles looks incredibly dopey when it's on him all the way.

And how bad must that hood-up accesory have been if THIS is the piece that they went with?I bet it was pretty good and someone at Lucasfilm shot it down for some tiny reason and they didn't have time to address it. :( I hope Hasbro revisits this figure next year in the basic line with the hood-up.

Jaff

06-01-2007, 01:23 PM

I like this Han for a relaxing scene, but it's more of a SAGA specific figure than an overall Han in Hoth figure. I would have prefered a removable hood, or a blue coat, but the figure is still good. I would give this fig a C+

jedibear

06-16-2007, 10:41 AM

JT...when you're right, you're right. Your review is totally on the mark for this one.

I wanted so much to see this figure be one of those "over the fence" ones. But other than the good jacket/legs sculpt, the distractions line up pretty quick on this one.

That headgear is inexcusable! It's so bad he doesn't even look good posed holding it under one arm.

I really wish Hasbro could've included that alternate head...would've made it cool to at least get TWO decent display options with this one...the one you mentioned (confronting Threepio) and a hood-up, searching-for-Luke with the scanner one.

Oh well...that's one thing I've noticed about all of the waves in this "vintage" line so far...while some of the figures have been excellent, there have been as many "misses" as "hits"....

I really wanted this one to be a hit...

bigbarada

06-18-2007, 11:54 AM

From the prototype shots, this figure looked like it was going to be the best Han Solo figure ever; but unfortunately, too many complications ultimately ruined it.

I guess trying to make that terrible hat accessory fit properly forced them to give him another pinhead. Which, to me, completely ruins the look of the figure.

So, I guess we're still waiting for a definitive Hoth Han Solo.:upset:

Devo

06-18-2007, 12:34 PM

I like this figure. I simply have no use for the head accessory so it doesn't bother me being oversized. My only issue is the eyeliner and upward gaze. I love the hood down look, we've never had it before, even if having the hood down isn't true to the Vintage figure.

JediTricks

06-19-2007, 01:43 AM

JT...when you're right, you're right. Your review is totally on the mark for this one.Thanks, glad to hear it. Sorry I have to be right on this one though, I would prefer my review had been wrong. ;)

I wanted so much to see this figure be one of those "over the fence" ones. But other than the good jacket/legs sculpt, the distractions line up pretty quick on this one.Yes, exactly!

Oh well...that's one thing I've noticed about all of the waves in this "vintage" line so far...while some of the figures have been excellent, there have been as many "misses" as "hits"....

I really wanted this one to be a hit...My tiered list of Vintage figures has a lot of misses on it, I think actually the VTSC1 line may have been the one with the best ratio of hits to misses, but they're all tempered results so neither flying higher nor lower.

My only issue is the eyeliner and upward gaze. I love the hood down look, we've never had it before, even if having the hood down isn't true to the Vintage figure.I'm so annoyed with the eye paint lately, way too many figures with heavy eyebrows, heavy eyeliner (top only) and upwards-gazing eyes, they've really got to deal with that.

POTF2 Han Hoth was hood-down, but his head was permanently wearing that hat.

Devo

06-24-2007, 11:31 AM

I like that you always try to address part or parts of everyone's posts JediTricks, I'm sure everyone thinks its nice to be acknowledged whether they're being agreed with or not on whatever points they made. I've noticed you do that in every thread you post in, not just the questions for Hasbro thread. And it is that extra bit of work to multiquote from various people's posts.

JediTricks

06-25-2007, 04:32 PM

Thanks. :cool: I try to make it a "discussion" as much as I can, it's what I find most interesting really. Sometimes it can get overboard with the partial quotes everywhere, but so can real discussions. ;)